Exploring the effects of room acoustics on singers' vocal performance in three virtual venues

This is the presentation at the 156th Audio Engineering Society Convention held in Madrid, Spain. The following is the title and abstract:
Title: Exploring the effects of room acoustics on soprano singers' vocal performance in three virtual venues
Abstract
In previous research, efforts have been made to understand the relationship between acoustic attributes of performance spaces and subjective/objective assessments of musicians' performances. While some studies suggested a correlation between performance or note duration and reverberation time, prior findings have been inconsistent and often lacked statistical significance, primarily due to experimental design constraints or small sample sizes. In this study, 15 soprano singers participated in a series of repeated performances of two songs in three virtual venues simulated by using a real-time auralization system with a head-mounted display. Close-up recordings of the singers' performances were analyzed, extracting various audio features for comparison across venues with reverberation times ranging from approximately 0.3 to 3.5 seconds. Results from repeated-measure ANOVA indicated that: 1) there was a marginal increase in rest duration with higher reverberation time, albeit statistically insignificant; 2) singers exhibited slightly louder and more resonant performances in a purpose-built music hall compared to smaller/larger venues; 3) increased reverberation seemed to correlate with decreased pitch accuracy and reduced use of vibrato and tremolo in certain notes. Future research aims to explore the interaction between venue characteristics and musical repertoire in more detail.